


And They Were ROOMMATES

by FuffDumpster



Category: Splatoon
Genre: 3 and 8 are (nonbinary) girls, F/F, Friendship, Octo Expansion Spoilers, Roommates, Sign Language, Teen Rating for swearing, Texting, Trauma, agent 3 and 8 just go by their numbers, agent 4 is a guy, agent 4's name is Bec, agent 8 is a selective mute (not by choice), and Octavio is there but he doesn't do anything, callie is mentioned, fic takes place one week after the octo expansion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-02 13:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15797781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuffDumpster/pseuds/FuffDumpster
Summary: oh my god they were roommatesFanfic about how 4 and 8 became roommates and (eventually) how 4 became 8's wingman and then fucked it up majorly.





	1. We're Kicking You Out

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this is the longest fanfic i've ever written and i'm not even done with it at the time of posting... i'm very proud and I hope y'all enjoy!

Pearl slammed the door behind her as she stepped into her room just finishing up putting Eight to bed, Marina sitting on the bed looking both confused and concerned. Pearl took a long breath in, before sighing and looking at Marina tiredly. “We gotta find Eight somewhere else to live.”

“What?” Marina gasped, but quickly furrowed her brow in thought, then relaxing and looking off to the side. “I should have seen this coming honestly,” She sighed.

“Hey hey, don’t say it like that!” Pearl whined. “It’s not my fault she’s a nightmare to live with! You weren’t nearly THIS bad!”

Marina looked skeptical. “I’m sure it doesn’t seem as bad _now_ , but I can remember doing things way worse than anything Eight’s done. Remember when I broke the TV within a week of being invited over?”

“Okay, true, but you didn’t get up in the middle of the night and cry like a fucking banshee, or raid the fridge directly after.” Pearl bartered. “I haven’t been able to get ANY sleep, and I know you haven’t been able to either.” Pearl finally moved away from the door and sat on the bed next to her girlfriend, who looked pretty defeated at this point. “Don’t get me wrong, ‘rina, I love that little octo! But she hasn’t even left the house, other than when we took her to buy some clothes. Finding her a new place to live won’t only be good for my sanity, but for her too!”  
“I... Yeah… I know you’re right,” Marina hesitated, looking kind of desperate. “I just don’t want her to feel alone like I did.”

“Oh babe,” Pearl wrapped her arms around the octoling. “She won’t be alone, just because she’ll live somewhere else doesn’t mean you won’t be able to baby her anymore!”

Marina giggled a little and smiled down at pearl. “I really do baby her, huh?” She sighed, flopping backwards onto the bed, looking up at the ceiling. “Who can she even go to? I’m pretty sure cap is busy with agent 3, so neither of them can take her in, we don’t really have any connections who know her or I’d be comfortable with giving her to…” Marina looked dejected and deep in thought, her tentacles curling up tightly.

Pearl was doing her fair share of deep-thinking too, and suddenly snapped her fingers, looking at Marina. “Just because Cap’n and Three can’t take her in doesn’t mean they can’t hook us up! There’s gotta be other agents, right? We can trust them! I’ll text him, see if he can get us any deets!” Pearl grinned, pulling out her phone.

Marina fiddled with her tentacles. “I sure hope so… But-”

“Ah! No buts. We’re getting her out of here, I swear to cod.”

“Oh Pearlie…” Marina smiled. “I can’t say no to you, you’re too pushy,” She teased.

“AND too perfect!” Pearl winked, giving a big smile and pointing a finger-gun at Marina, mock-shooting at her. “BLAM, splatted by my awesomeness.”

The two giggled and chidded each other, coming up with and jotting down quips for the news cast tomorrow until falling in a sleepy mess together, pearl’s phone buzzing with a reply after they drifted to sleep.

 ***

It had only been about a month or so since Bec, also known as Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, had saved the entirety of inkopolis. Yet, after all of that, shit’s been pretty boring, in his own words. Until, that is, he got a call from his sort-of-definitely-kinda-best-ish-friend-slash-boss Marie, or agent 2 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

“Four?” Marie began, “You there?”

Four fumbled for his walkie talkie, which he kept right on the table next to his couch, which he was sat on basically whenever we wasn’t turfing. “Agent 4 reading you loud and clear! What’s up, did Octavio break out? One of the off the hook members was kidnapped and brainwashed like Callie? The Zapfish got stolen again?” He rambled on, sounding mostly goofy but his anxiety definitely slipping through.

Marie did a bit of a laugh at his expense, “Nothing like that, but it IS urgent, so come quick, 4! Over and out, stay fresh!” and with that, Marie’s end of the walkie-talkie cut out.

Bec sat for a moment, overthinking the situation greatly. Something urgent, but not any of the horrible things he mentioned? _What else bad could even happen, inkopolis could only have so much bad shit happen to it, right? It’s not like some giant bust of a human is going to shoot a world ending beam of goo at the city or anything. Whoa. Where did that thought even come from?_ Bec shook his head and got up, put on his agent gear, and headed straight for Octo Canyon. Well, maybe he stopped to eat something at the crust bucket, but then he headed straight for Octo Canyon!

Bec popped in through the entrance, looking around and clutching his hero dualies. “Marie? I came as quick as I could and-” He looked over and just caught a glimpse of something he could barely believe. And Marie was just standing there like nothing was even remotely wrong with this situation. Until she looked over at Bec, of course, who did in fact find something wrong with this situation.

“Oh cod, please don't freak out,” Marie started, but she was already too late to stop the approaching barrage of annoying and sporadic questions about to assault her.

“WHY THE FUCK IS AN OCTARIAN SOLDIER JUST STANDING HERE, NOT SPLATTED??”

 ***

Eight's morning had been horrible. To start off, she had another horrible nightmare, this one about being trapped by Octavio and forced to wear the hypno-glasses again. She hated every dream with Octavio in it, especially since when she woke up, it only reminded her how insignificant she would have been in real life. He would have just splatted her, logically. What's the use in keeping some insabortantian grunt soldier alive? It's not like she had any important job, at least not that she could remember.

She spent the rest of her early hours crying, and then showering- which thankfully she could do without Marina or Pearl standing outside the door now. Any improvement was something, she guessed. Before finally heading down for breakfast. Strangely, Pearl was nowhere to be seen this morning. It was a little alarming to eight, but Marina was there looking cheerful as ever as she made omelets for herself, Pearl, and Eight.

Marina must have heard her walk down, because she turned around happily and have Eight a warm smile. “Hello Eight! I hope you got a little rest last night, today's gonna be kinda busy if everything goes well!” she said in a pretty sing song way, hints of her octarian accent coming through.

[Morning, I had a nightmare, but I took a shower so it's all OK.] Eight signed, giving a little smile. [We're having omelets again?]

Marina's eyebrows shot up, and she turned back to the frying pan to flip the omelet again, refocusing on the meal after getting distracted by needing to read eight’s signing. “Yeah! I figured since you only learned what it was yesterday, having it again to refresh your memory might help!”

Eight nodded, although she was pretty sure Marina couldn't hear a nod or see it while looking at the food. Eight had been trying to talk more, but it just wasn't happening. It was obviously pretty frustrating for her, especially cause she couldn't find been remember if she was always like this. Which, she didn't really mind in all honesty. The less memories the better, since pretty much all the ones she got before busting out of kamabo were awful or useless.

There was no time for frustration now though, as marina had finished the omelets and presented one with a beautiful swirl on ketchup topping it to eight. “Enjoy!” Marina smiled, and Eight dug in hungrily.

Only minutes later though, Pearl made her way out of Eight's room with a small… case? And patted Eight on the shoulder. “You better change outta those PJs soon pal, we're going to inkopolis square today! Ooh, are those omelets?” Pearl changed the subject quickly, looking at the food hungrily.

[Why are we going to the square?] Eight asked, turning to Marina.

“Oh, we just uh… thought it'd be nice for you to get some fresh air before we have to head off to work!” Marina explained, sounding suspiciously like she had made that up on the spot.

Eight raised an eyebrow, but quickly relaxed. Marina wouldn't just lie to her! After all, being truthful about everything had gotten her out of metro. Although, Marina kind of did lie by not telling Pearl that she was an octoling, but that was a lie that made sense. Why would Marina lie about going to the square? She wouldn't, obviously.

After finishing up breakfast, Eight ran off to go get dressed. It seemed like Pearl already put out an outfit for her, how thoughtful! All her stuff wasn't out like it normally was, either. Pearl must have put it all away, that's what she was doing during breakfast! Pearl wasn't usually this thoughtful, but that made this an even more pleasant surprise.

Eight ran down to meet up with the girls, smiling all the while. [I'm ready to go!] She signed in an excited manner.

“Alright! Off to Inkopolis!” Pearl exclaimed, doing an excited hop to emphasize how pumped she was.

The trip to the square had been smooth. Pearl had a fancy sports car, which Marina drove because Pearl had failed to get her driver's license multiple times. Eight wasn't a huge fan of car rides even though she had only been on one only one other time. She couldn't talk to Marina, although Pearl was happy to chatter on about inkling culture for Eight. Cod, everything was so different up here. Eight could only kind of remember octarian society, but the stale, fake air and the military stuck out the most in her mind. It seemed like inklings just got to have fun all the time!

When they made it to the square only a few inklings and jellies were bustling about, considering it was around seven am and most inklings slept until around ten at the earliest. Eight was just about to look through some of the windows of the shops in the square, but Pearl quickly tugged her along til they got to a weird grate in the ground.

“'Rina are you sure this is the right place?” Pearl asked, looking at the grate suspiciously.

Marina nodded. “This is where he said they'd be! Also, stop calling me 'Rina," She chided pearl, before looking back at the grate. "Although… I'm kind of second guessing this whole thing now,” she admitted, looking back at Eight nervously.

[What's going on? What's with the grate?] Eight asked, starting to panic a little at not being told.

“It's too late to back out now! We've gone too far to flounder on this!” Pearl proclaimed, grabbing the little case she brought all this way and shifting into squid-form, jumping into the grate and, to Eight's surprise, dragging the case along with her.

[Marina? What's happening?] Eight signed, her hands shaky and almost unreadable.

Marina sighed, putting a hand on Eight. “I'm almost as confused as you, don't worry.” she smiled before morphing to octo-form and hopping into the grate after Pearl.

Eight just started in disbelief. _That… didn't answer my question at all._ She thought, exasperated. Despite the confusion, though, she hopped through the grate after her friends.

Eight popped out of the grate in a familiar but entirely different area. Shaking the ink off herself, she looked around in confusion, seeing first her friends- Marina looking distant and anxious while Pearl tried to snap her back to reality- and then to her surprise and horror, DJ Octavio trapped in what seemed to be some kind of glass orb. Eight completely understood why Marina was freaking out now, immediately freezing at seeing _the_ most important and terrifying person in octarian society right there.

“Don't worry guys, he can't hurt you from in there, he can't do much of anything but complain.” Explained another, very familiar sounding voice calmly. Eight turned and her fear immediately melted away and turned into excitement.

[MARIE OF THE SQUID SISTERS?] Eight signed, her hand motions big and excited, starting to jump excitedly after signing.  
Marina had finally come to, watching Eight with a giggle. “Calm down Eight, you can't talk to her if you keep jumping around like that.”

Eight took a moment to gather herself and went up to Marie, signing excitedly. [I'm such a big fan of your music, it changed my life! I've been listening to every song of you and your cousin’s I can get ahold of! This is so amazing, I can't believe you're here!]

Marie made an awkward smile, holding out a hand for Eight to shake. “You sure are excited it seems, always nice to meet a fan.” She said stiffly, but Eight couldn't care less. “I assume you're agent 8? Gramps- I mean Captain cuttlefish- has told me a lot about you! Well, maybe not a lot but I do know you're a new agent, so welcome to the team!”

Eight was too starstruck to really ask how she knew Cap'n, or why she said team, so she just nodded excitedly. [Is Callie here too? Oh wow, I can't believe this is happening!]

Marie just smiled and looked over at Marina and Pearl in a plead for help.

“Oh!” Marina exclaimed, realizing the problem. “Eight, I don't think she knows sign language that well,” She explained. “I can translate for you Marie, if it helps.”

“Oh thank cod,” Marie gasped, relieved. “I'd appreciate it.”

“Eight, would you mind signing that again so I can see?” Marina asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

[Oh,] eight signed, looking disappointed that she couldn't just _talk_ to one of her biggest idols. She reiterated what she had just signed, and Marina echoed it back to Marie.

Marie laughed a little, “Callie isn't here, shes busy with a rehearsal. I'm mostly here just so I can explain the roommate situation to Four when he gets here,” She explained casually.

Eight was very, very confused. She turned to Marina and Pearl, who were smiling nervously after what Marie had just said. [Roommate situation?]

“Well, we were gonna have to explain at some point.” Pearl sighed, Marina looking even more anxious. “Eight, we're kicking you out.”

Tears started to form in Eight’s eyes. The closest thing to family she has on the surface is kicking her out? What was going on! Her whole world was going down the drain in an instant.

And then some idiot with yellow tentacles showed up and started screaming.

***

Bec immediately aimed his hero dualies at the octoling, only for Marie to jump in front and shield them with her umbrella.

Marie looked up over the umbrella-shield, obviously annoyed with him. “What the fuck is your problem?” She asked, pissed off.

Four didn't respond and shot some of his yellow ink right in her face.

“GAH” Marie exclaimed, shoving her face back under the umbrella, shaking it off. “Can you please just fucking BEHAVE yourself?”

“Nice,” Bec whispered to himself in victory. “I’ve never been able to get a shot off on ya before!”

“Put the dualies away, idiot.” Marie commanded dryly.

“Geez, fine. But seriously? What the fuck is an octoling doing in our HQ?” he asked, his assholery only slightly covering up his nervousness over this situation.

“She's not a soldier, Four. She's not even on their side, obviously? She's like Marina.”

“What?” Four asked confused.

“HEY!” Pearl chimed in, “how the shell do you know Marina is an octoling?”

“Uh? Because it's obvious?” Marie explained, looking thrown off by the short inkling joining in.

“No it's not!” Four and Pearl said in unison, before looking at each other.

“Oh my cod you're Pearl from TV!” Bec exclaimed, suddenly realizing that Off the Hook was standing right in front of him.

“The one and only!” Pearl smiled, forgetting that Bec had just tried to kill what was essentially her adopted daughter. “Marina and I are trying to get Eight a new home and, oh. I guess that's suppose to be you.” Pearl said, looking concerned. She looked over to Marina, who was making the same expression.

“I'm having second thoughts…” Marina said quietly, looking at eight.

Eight had a little wetness on her cheeks, but had been completely distracted from crying by almost being killed. She frantically looked at Marina. [PLEASE have second thoughts,] she signed pleadingly.

Everyone in the entry to octo canyon kind of just looked at each other for what seemed like hours. In reality it was a couple seconds, as they all thought things out and decided on what to do next about the situation. Marie put her umbrella down slowly, shaking off the excess ink before awkwardly moving closer to her hut. Pearl was looking at her suspiciously, probably because she knew Marina was an octoling this whole time.

Four finally spoke up, about to say some dumb shit. “So, octolings aren't evil?” He asked, sounding like the biggest dumbass to ever dumbass.

“No four, they're not evil.” Marie sighed, putting her face in her hands. “Have you not seen them popping up in the square? Have you not realized that Marina is an octoling?”

“Well I mean I didn't know until right now when you told me. I just thought her hair was weird. And no, I haven't seen any octolings in the square, just people with weird hair like Marina- ooooohhh” Four finally got it. “I get it. Alright. So octolings are chill now.” He concluded.

Marie nodded. “Duh. Anyways, This octoling that you almost SPLATTED,” Marie emphasized, motioning at Eight, “Is supposed to be your new roommate. Although I'm not sure she's really hyped for it anymore.”

[I was never excited for it.] Eight signed upsetly.

“What?? Really? Cod, sorry. The shooty thing was a gut reaction y'know? Let's start off on a better tentacle huh?” He said, stepping toward Eight and holding out his hand for a high-five. “Name's Bec, or Agent four as you've heard. I'd be down to room with ya!”

Eight stared at him like he was fucking insane. [I'm Eight, and I don't really want to be your roommate. I want to stay with Marina and Pearl.] She signed, not returning any high five.

Four put down his hand confused and turned to Marie. “What the fuck is she doing?”

“Oh cod.” Marie exclaimed. “This is a disaster.”

As Marie started to explain the situation to four, Marina went up and nudged Eight. “Come on Eight, I know you wanna stay with us but you need to get out there! You can't just stay in your room and cry all day,” Marina explained, trying to justify to Eight.

[But you and Pearl said I could do whatever I wanted on the surface.] Eight justified back, pouting a little.

“Yeah! Well! Uh! We gotta give you a little tough love so you can see there's more to it than just that. You came to the surface cause you wanted to actually live right? I know that's why I came,” Marina explained, feeling more confident in her reasoning. “I think you should at least give the roommate thing a try.”

Eight thought about it, feeling admittedly a little guilty about how she's been acting. The surface _was_ suppose to be a place for life. It's what she's been fighting for this whole time. [Yeah. You know what? You're right.] Eight signed, looking up at Marina hopefully. [Four can't understand sign language right? If we're gonna be roommates I need a way to communicate with him.]

Marina nodded in response. “You got that new phone on ya? You can probably use that!” She smiled, excited that she convinced Eight to try it out at the very least.

Eight nodded, pulling her phone out of her pocket and quickly typing on it. After a few moments, she finished and walked over to Four, who was getting sign language explained to him by Marie. She tapped him on the shoulder and handed him her phone smiling.

“Huh? Oh,” Four mumbled, taking the phone from the octoling.

The phone was open to the notepad app, and a short message was typed up from Eight.

'Hi there! I'm Agent Eight,' it read, 'And apparently we're supposed to be roommates, and while I'm not sure what that entails, I'd be willing to try :)! Since you can't read my hands, maybe we can just text? Put your phone number in here and I think everything will go swimmingly from there! Thank you so much!'

“Damn.” Bec said blankly. “You sound weirdly nice for me almost splatting you a moment ago. I like that kinda attitude!” He smiled, putting in his phone number.

Marie moved over to Marina and Pearl, who were looking at eight in pride. “Well,” Marie started, “that went a lot better than I thought it would honestly.”


	2. You live like this?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bec and Eight make their way to Bec's apartment and Eight's new home. Hopefully things will work out, but Eight's seriously doubting it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wrow thank u to everyone who left comments on the first chapter!!!! i hope yall enjoy this one too! i currently plan to end this at four chapters, but I have ideas for continuing so the total number of chapters may change! thank you again! have fun reading about these two fucking idiots

Eight and Four had started making their way home after Eight had said her goodbyes to Marina and Pearl -who assured her that they'd stay in touch and invite her out as often as they could- as well flipping off Octavio before jumping through the grate to inkopolis. They had walked home in almost silence. Almost. Bec had decided to ramble on about his agent duties and saving the world. Eight had only been half listening, opting to rather look around at the buildings and creatures they passed. Inkopolis was so… interesting. Other than inkopolis streets the most diverse place she can remember being in was the metro, and she didn't like to think about that for long. She didn't like to think much about being underground either, but she needed to for comparison, since the only kinds of creatures she can even remotely remember seeing down there were octarians.

She shook her head a little, as if the thoughts were the enemy team’s ink that had splashed on her. She looked down at Bec, who was somehow still talking.

“- and then Marie flew in on Sheldon's hover-truck or whatever, and sniped the shades off of Callie. It was almost as cool as what happened when I got the rainmaker and-” He continued, and Eight wished she had been paying more attention. Rainmakers only brought back memories of the metro, god those tests were almost a literal hell.

They kept walking, Eight continuing to space off every few seconds. Suddenly Bec stopped in his tracks in front of a tall modern-looking sky blue building. Eight took a moment to realize they weren't still walking, turning back to Four.

[Why are we stopping?] Eight signed, looking confused. There still seemed to be a lot of things to look at, and this building didn't look like Pearl and Marina's house, which was obviously how all home on the surface looked like. Nothing like the barracks underground.

“You know I still can't understand when you move your hands around like that, right?” Bec asked, laughing a little at her. “Don't worry though, I'll start learning about it online or something. I'm a fast learner with shit like that, probably.”

[I doubt it. You're an idiot.] Eight signed, looking pissed before smirking for a moment. She pulled out her phone and typed her question into a text to the other agent.

Four seemed a little uneasy after Eight had angrily signed at him, but pulled out his phone anyways, reading the message. “Oh! Well uh, this is my apartment building!” He explained happily. His smile deflated a little bit while Eight stared at him with a confused expression. “Is something wrong? What's wrong? Is apartment like a cuss word to octolings or something?”

Eight made a soft frustrated noise and typed into her phone. 'i don't know what that is.’

Four quickly read the message. “What, a cuss word? Jesus Christ… a cuss word is like the word-” He cut himself off when his phone buzzed in his hand.

'no, I know what a cuss word is. It's like damn and stuff like that. I don't know what the other thing is.’ eight typed, looking concerned that she had to explain this that much to the inkling.

“Ooohhh, aight. An apartment is just like a house inside a building with a ton of other houses inside of it,” Bec explained, feeling smart for knowing basic knowledge for any inkling.

Eight thought a moment. _So it's kind of like the barracks? But the inklings don't really even have a military right? Other than the New Squidbeak Splatoon I guess, but that seems really make-shift. Why wouldn't they just live in a house like Marina and Pearl?_

“Hey! Agent 4 to Agent 8, do you read me?” Bec said jokingly, waving his hand in front of Eight’s face. “Cod, calling you Eight is Kinda weird, you got a like, actual name?”

Eight blinked, coming back from spacing out. She began to sign, but stopped herself and started typing instead. 'Eight is an actual name though? Cap’n gave it to me :( I like it.’

“Damn. Okay I get you, Eight it is,” Bec sighed with a smile. “Let's get inside then, get you all settled in and shit. I'm probably gonna go turfing in uhhh…” he looked down at his phone for a quick second. “About an hour? Tower Control starts at 8:30 and goes until 10, I wanna get in on it before the plebs wake up.”

Eight had no idea what he was saying, other than tower control which she had almost just as bad memories about from the metro. She huffed and typed on her phone again, 'Can we please go inside?’ she asked, just wanting to lay down and maybe cry or something like that. She was way behind on crying schedule, and she's been through a lot today that was worth crying over.

“Alright, alright, let's get goin’ then!” Bec said cheerfully, grabbing Eight’s wrist and dragging her inside the building.

Eight proceeded to have a fight, flight, or freeze reaction. Her instinct was to pull away and hide, but she knew that he wouldn't actually hurt her now, so instead she just… froze and let him drag her.

Eventually they had made their way to the elevator, four pressing a lot of buttons that seemed unnecessary to Eight. She didn't really like elevators, bad memories. _Cod,_ she thought for a moment, _I have too many bad memories huh._

“Going up!” Bec chimed, leaning against the side of the elevator. “We get off at the next floor, aight? Then I'll get ya all settled in. Is that suitcase all your stuff or are your friends gonna bring more?” He asked, before looking over at eight excitedly. “Super fucking cool you're friends with Off the Hook, by the way! I never thought I'd ever get to meet them actually.”

Eight texted, 'Are they really that famous? I mean I knew they made music but you act like they're a big deal.’

“Well they are a big deal! They run inkopolis news! Literally everyone knows who they are,” Bec explained, surprised that Eight didn't even know.

'Oh… cool?’ eight typed, not sure what to think. She's glad her friends were so well know, they deserve it! But it was just a world so different from how she knew them… oh well. Guess that's just another confusing surface thing.

The elevator chimed, making eight jump a little. “This is out stop! Right this way Eight,” Bec said with a goofy smile, pulling Eight along again.

Eight as dragged along until they came to a door with the marking ‘A4-420’ on the door. “Nice.” Bec said quickly with a grin, pulling out a key from his pocket and opening the door. “Welcome to my humble abode, or the Bec-crib as literally no one but me calls it,” he rambled proudly.

Eight stepped in and looked around in wonder and disgust. There was clothes and weapons all over the floor, a small couch with big huge bean bags on either side, and the kitchen was kind of a disaster. Pearl and Marina's house was _nothing_ like this, it was clean and interesting and smelled nice.

As Eight kept looking around she couldn't help but think _damn bitch, you live like this?_ Although she would never actually say that to Four. He was agreeing to let her live there after all. She just smiled awkwardly and gave a thumbs up to Bec.

Bec smiled cheerfully. “Looks fresh right? Let me give you the grand tour!” He said excitedly, grabbing Eight's hand again and dragging her along. _He sure likes to do this a lot_ she thought, starting to get use to- and aggravated by- his habit of pulling her everywhere he needs her to be.

“The area we were just in was the living and gaming room, next to it is the kitchen, over here is the bathroom, and in here is my bedroom! I uh… don't really have a place for you to sleep, didn't really get this apartment with a guest room in mind.. is sleeping on the couch okay with you?” He asked, sounding a little anxious with realizing his living situation wasn't really great for this new normal.

Eight was hesitant, almost shivering at the thought of how messy the living room was, but nodded anyways. If she could sleep on the metro she can totally sleep on a couch. Anything was better than the cramped metro. Even if it was an unkempt mess. Cod, just thinking about how an area this messy would go over in the barracks sent shivers down her back. It was strange though, she kept getting all of these thoughts about the barracks but could barely remember them in the first place. _Wow! Being an amnesiac is almost as frustrating as not being able to speak!_ Eight thought to herself.

“You good?” Bec suddenly asked, nudging Eight a little, making her realize she had been spacing out. “If you don't wanna sleep there it's fine, I usually fall asleep on the couch anyways,” he rambled with a small chuckle.

‘I can sleep on the couch, thanks’ Eight texted before giving Four a little smile. Even if this guy is the biggest mess on the surface, he's trying his best right? Can't blame him for that!

Bec read the message and grinned at her. “I think this is the start of a great friendship. Now, let's unpack shit! That suitcase is everything right?” Eight nodded in response. “Fantastic, shouldn't be much then!” Bec grinned, bending down to open the small rolling suitcase, all of Eight’s belongings stuffed inside. Her octarian uniform, a plethora of clothes Marie and Pearl so kindly bought her, her Kamabo Co. ink tank, and octo shot.

Eight cringed a little at seeing all the metro stuff. Pearl and Marina couldn't have kept that at their house? Bec was rummaging through her belongings, making faces and little interested noises. “Leather, huh? Bet this shits uncomfortable,” he commented, continuing his invasion of privacy.

Eight didn't really see the point in stopping him. He was only looking, she knows she did almost the same thing at Pearl and Marina's house. _In fact, it's probably the perfect time to snoop around myself,_ Eight thought, a faintly mischievous smile forming on her face.

Eight crept around Four as not to alert him. She could be shockingly quiet when she wanted to be, making nearly no noise as started to explore the kitchen. This wasn't nearly as nice as Marina and Pearl's kitchen, the sink had a pile of dishes inside it, and the utensils were sitting about haphazardly.

Eight remembers Marina specifically put all the knives in a secret place so Eight wouldn't be able to get to them, she heard her talking to Pearl about it when they thought she couldn't hear. Eight thought it was stupid. She could be trusted with a knife, obviously. She decided not to mention anything about Marina's decision to Bec, she didn't want him to feel like he had to hide things she was clearly qualified to use.

She kept looking around, peaking into cupboards quietly. There sure were a lot of boxes. Wasn't the kitchen suppose to be where inklings kept food? That's what Marina told her, clearly Bec hadn't gotten the memo yet because all he kept in here were dishes, utensils, and boxes. Eight giggled to herself quietly, thinking about how clueless Bec must be. She had gotten to the surface only a week ago and she already knew more than he did.

While looking around though, her eyes drifted to one certain object on the counter. Suddenly she was filled with a primal fear, which quickly turned into a seething anger. An admittedly small blender just sat there, mocking her. Eight got a little but if a flashback to when she had finally collected the four Thangs, excited to finally be finished with the literal hell she had been through, wanting to be done with the tests as quickly as possible that she didn't even care about not having around half her memories back. She just wanted to get to the promised land. But no, instead she was shoved into what was apparently a blender, and was almost killed before Agent Three smashed it to pieces.

 _Fuck blenders._ Eight thought angrily. In a rash act of defiance against that stupid fucking phone she shoved the blender off the counter, breaking it with a loud smash. She froze immediately, eyes wide. Even if the blender deserved it, that was still Four’s possession.

Speaking of Four, he was now looking up from the suitcase at her, worry and shock clear on his face. “Oh shit,” he began, “well that's not good,” he said, getting up with a huff.

Eight began to frantically sign sorry over and over again, realizing she shouldn't have done that. It took her a good minute to realize that Bec couldn't understand that. She watched as Bec got a broom and dustpan out, sweeping up the glass around her feet.

“I didn't expect octolings to be this clumsy,” Bec chuckled as he swept, “The soldiers I fought we're super precise with all their weapons. That or I was just shit,” he laughed at himself, dumping a dustpan full of glass into a trashcan.

Eight looked at him curiously, finally stepping away from the mess she made. She pulled out her phone, texting him a quick 'Sorry, I just got reminded of something and became impulsive. :(‘. Bec’s phone vibrated, earning a little jump from him as he went to see what was up.

“Ah, aight. Don't worry about it, I've been forgetting to buy the shit to make milkshakes and smoothies anyways. No big deal,” Bec reassured, giving a smile to the tall octoling. Once he finished up by putting the broom away, he stretched before scratching his butt in a rather casual manner, as if he wasn't in front of someone he had just met and rather a close friend that he felt comfortable enough to do things like that around.

“Well, I'm gonna bounce. Tower control’s startin’ and I'm so close to passing my A rank. If you need help with anything just text me I guess! I'll try to bring home groceries or something but don't blame me if I forget,” he laughed at himself, Eight didn't understand why. “Remote for the TV is over there, you can watch anything you want. I have games too but uh…” he paused anxiously, “ _Please_ don't break any of my games? You can play em if you want just… be careful aight?”

Eight nodded, giving a little smile and waving goodbye. Bec did a quick finger gun and then shut the door behind him, locking it on his way out. Eight sighed, flopping onto the couch. Surprisingly she didn't instantly break into tears like she thought she would, so instead she squirmed and laid on her back, starting to fiddle with her phone.

***

It had been about two weeks since Eight and Four had been shoved together, and both of them were already adjusting well. In two weeks time they have: taken Eight to her first turf war (which she had won thanks to Four being on the same team), taken Eight to her second and Last turf war, went to the crust bucket, texted non-stop, made four learn more sign language, watched a marathon of Four's favorite movie series, discovered that the boxes in Four’s cupboard actually have food inside of them, and visited octo Canyon again so four could check on Marie and the snow globe while Eight could meet Callie in person. Surprisingly Callie knew sign language and Eight had never been happier in her whole life.

One thing they hadn't done though, was talk about Eight's past. Four had gone on and on to her about his adventures in the canyon and about the turf wars that day, even talking about some of his school experiences. Eight seemed eager to hear about all of it, but never told any stories of her own back. Bec could swear that she had wanted to, because she kept starting to type a response back when he was talking but she always managed to delete it before writing a generic 'that's so cool’ or 'i wouldn't have expected that’. Four certainly didn't want to probe, even with his curiosity eating at him. Sure, his experiences as an agent just seemed like good fun to him, but that wasn't the case for everybody.

Bec finally got a taste of the mysterious octoling’s backstory though, as she laid across him on the couch while he had some downtime between turfing. Eight moved awkwardly, making an upset whine as she looked at her phone, typing insistently.

“Whatcha typing about?” He asked, poking his head over to peak at her phone. She was messaging someone called “Gramps”, before she quickly switched to Bec's messages.

'Cap’n wants me to start talking to Agent Three…’ eight messaged, looking up at Bec from where she was laying, her face nervous and worried.

Bec thought back to the time he had the pleasure of meeting agent 3. It had been some time when he went to the canyon while eight stayed at home. Three had been nothing but standoffish, cold, annoyed, and rude. All the more reason to make friends with her, if you asked him! It was either going to become a strong friendship or a bitter rivalry, and both were pretty fun possibilities. Eight seemed like she dreaded the whole situation, though.

“What's wrong with Three? You not like her or something? She too mean? I'll kick her ass if she's mean to you, if you want,” Bec offered, only half joking.

'No no no! Nothing like that,’ eight typed hurriedly. 'in fact I like her too much, considering she tried to kill me twice.’

“SHE TRIED TO KILL YOU TWICE?” Bec exclaimed, his protective friend instincts kicking into high-gear.

Eight let herself laugh a little at him, 'you tried to kill me before too, you have no place to get worried. But yeah… that's kind of the problem. I really want to talk to her but… she's literally the most terrifying person I've ever met!’ eight explained, looking upset as she typed. 'I really do wanna see her or text her or something, but I'm anxious just thinking about it…’

“Damn. That really does suck Eight,” Bec sighed, leaning back on the couch with his phone in hand. “But yknow, not doing anything will probably just make it worse.”

'I guess...’ Eight sighed as she typed. ’but… I don't know if she even wants to talk to me. She seemed really out of it when we got to the surface…’

“Eight,” Bec stated seriously. “You got to the surface like, what, three weeks ago? That's almost a month. I'm sure she adjusted by now. Shell, I even saw her a few days ago and she seemed fine! Well, if you call being grumpy and rude fine for her.”

Eight's eyes lit up with a shocked expression before she looked back at her phone to type. 'You saw three? Why didn't you tell me? Is she doing okay did she looked beat up at all? Did she say anything about me?’

Bec laughed as he read the influx of questions. “I didn't know you knew her all that well! She was doing okay other than that weird tealish scar over her eye, she didn't want to talk to me at all. I doubt she even knows we're living together. Or she does know and maybe that's why she looked like she hates my guts.”

'oh… well maybe I should text her then… I'll ask Cap’n for her number’ eight sent with a little smile on her face. Four could swear he saw her blushing, his mischievous side's interest being piqued.

“Do you… like her?” Four asked, his smirk showing in his tone.

'um?’ eight texted with a confused look on her face, 'I already told you I liked her? Are inklings really this forgetful?’

“No I mean, do you _like_ like her.”

'what does that even mean?’

Bec sighed. This hopeless octoling. “I mean like, do you have a crush on her?”

'why would I want to crush her!! I couldn't even if I tried, she's so strong and has amazing aim, I'd be killed.’

“Oh my cod this is hopeless. I mean do you want to date her.”

'??? What?’

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!” Bec exclaimed, putting his head in his hands. While eight looked on in shock at his sudden rise in volume. “Okay, you know Marina and Pearl? How they're always together and like, hug and kiss sometimes? It's rare for the paparazzi to get pictures of them together like that but- anyways, you know how they act? It's like that. Do you want to do stuff like that with Three?”

Eight stayed still for a long time. Her face getting darker with a hot blush, putting her hand up to her face. 'I um. I hadn't thought about that,’ she typed with her free hand, 'but… I can imagine that would be nice. At least in theory.’

Bec had the biggest grin on his face. “Ohhh my GOD you beautiful little lesbian. This is perfect. I love you. I can finally hook one of my friends up, I've been wanting to do this kinda thing since one of my turf buddies got set up thanks to crusty Sean”

'what? What's a lesbian?’ Eight asked, looking back up from her phone and tilting her head.

“Oh boy,” Bec said with a gigantic smile, “This is gonna be a fun conversation.”


	3. Glad You're Not Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three's cycle of depression is ruined by an octoling they tried to kill twice asking them if they want to go get lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three is incredibly fun to write!!! this is probably one of my favorite chapters just because I got to write out her perspective on things a lot in it. hope yall like her as much as i do <3

Three had been sitting in her apartment for about… four days straight? Probably, she lost track of time. She groaned into a pillow on her bed, before rolling onto her back. She stared at the ceiling, thinking about everything again.

Apparently, some _octoling_ had saved all of inkopolis. Not just some octoling, no, Cap’n had decided at some point to make them an agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. An octoling! An octoling she had apparently tried to kill while she was knocked out! But… three guessed that if they saved inkopolis then they deserve to be in the NSS. _And_ they were pretty cute. _Wait no shut up,_ three thought, clenching their head, _you haven't even heard about them in a week or two. They're probably dead or something._

Three sighed, sitting back up on her bed. She felt like shit, but didn't want to do anything about it. _Cod. Why can't I just go work or something?_ Three thought, rubbing her eyes. Captain had to force her to take a break, apparently she was 'working herself too hard’ or something. Bullshit. Working was the only thing keeping her from having a breakdown!

Three's rambling thoughts were stamped out by a buzz from her phone. Weird, why was captain messaging her? Could she finally go back to work? Or maybe it was Marie or Callie catching up with her. That wouldn't be so bad right? Right. She reached over and grabbed her phone, her attitude going from hopeful to confused in a matter of seconds. A number she didn't already have in her phone? This has gotta be some scam. Three almost didn't check it but decided, _well I have nothing better to do anyways._

Three's heart rate picked up as she read the message. _Fuck._ She thought in a panic.

'Hello agent 3, it's me Agent Eight! The octoling you saved? Cap’n said I should try to talk to you since we haven't really seen each other in a while. Is your eye okay?’

Three groaned. Great. This was just great. _Why'd she have to bring up the eye,_ She thought, touching her discolored scar. _Stupid fucking metro. I wish we never patrolled there in the first place._ Three suddenly felt a pang of guilt at the thought. _Eight would probably be dead if I hadn't been there trying to save Gramps…_ ugh. Three hated having emotions, this sucked.

Three was brought back from her deep thinking by another buzz from her phone. 'oh oops, sorry the eye thing was probably not the best thing to bring up. You can forget I said that! Just um… message me back whenever! Stay safe!’

Three sighed, shifting in her bed and thinking of what to type. She settled on 'hey 8. glad you're not dead.’ At least she didn't sound like a complete asshole right? This'll do. This is fine. Maybe Eight will just leave it at that and not message her again. Then she wouldn't have to be obligated to respond right? A small part of her really _did_ want Eight to text again though, even if she didn't admit it to herself. This had been one of her first interactions this week that wasn't Gramps trying to get her to relax and maybe do some turfing. Which she did, in fact, try to do. But one round in and she was already getting too violent in matches. Turns out fighting for your life in a traumatic situation changes how you feel about fighting for fun, who would have thought!

'I'm glad you're not dead either :)!’ eight replied, Three's face getting a little warmer. That was weird, what was she doing? What the fuck? Why was she feeling so weird? Cod, she doesn't even understand her own feelings. What a disaster. To three's surprise, another message lit up her phone. 'Would you maybe want to go get something at the crusty Sean’s truck? I was planning on heading there but it'd be nice if we could meet up and maybe talk a little? It's okay if you can't! Just let me know :)! I'll be there at around 12:30, if you want to go! <3’

Three stared at the message for a long time. Eight, who she had tried to _kill_ , wanted to have lunch with _her_? And Eight sent a heart? Fuck. This is the worst. Maybe the heart thing means something else to octolings. Maybe they're all affectionate like that! Okay, Three knew she was kidding herself with that. Octarian soldiers were cold killing machines. Three wasn't sure they could feel much of anything, but she knew that wasn't true either.

_Ugh, this is too confusing._ Three thought, huffing as she pushed herself off the bed. _I can't believe I'm actually gonna do this._ She held her head and started to throw on clothes to go to a meeting she already dreaded.

***

'I don't see the point in sending a less than three to her. Wouldn't that just make her mad?’ eight asked, leaning on four as she texted him.

“Just because the symbols mean ‘less than three’ in math doesn't mean it means that in _text_. It's suppose to look like a heart, y'know, so she knows you're gay for her.”

Eight giggled, dropping her phone and putting her hands on her face. After Four's brief summary of love and lesbianism, which he was surprised hadn't come up between them yet, Eight had become extremely fond of the idea. It made Eight think back to octarian society. It wasn't like love was frowned upon there, it just was never really talked about, at least that she could remember. Which admittedly wasn't that much, but still.

Bec laughed at her flustered motions. “You haven't even seen her yet and you're already being the biggest lesbian in inkopolis!” He teased.

Eight slightly paused, holding her face still. _Oh right. I'm gonna have to see her. Like, in person._ She shivered a little, suddenly not as excited about the idea. As much as she liked Three, she was still terrified of the Agent.

Bec noticed her tense up, sighing. “It's not gonna go bad, trust me. Now let's get you looking cute as FUCK!” he shouted excitedly, making eight jump at a bit before smiling at his enthusiasm.

Surprisingly, Bec was great at fashion. Eight didn't expect him to pick the freshest combination of clothes for her, since he put what seemed like very little thought into his own appearance. Sure enough though, Eight looked cute as shell after she had put on all the new clothes. She looked at herself in Bec's bedroom mirror, making a soft sound of validation of Bec's outfit choices.

“All set?” He asked as eight admired his work in the mirror. “Three's gonna be head over heels for you, the lime easy-stripe with black seahorses? SUCH a look.” Bec smiled, then his eyes lit up while eight was still admiring the outfit. “Wait here, I'll be back in a sec.”

Eight was perfectly fine with waiting. She hadn't gotten a great look at herself in a while. Last time she really _looked_ in a mirror instead of just glanced was at Pearl and Marina's place, the first time she had really been there. She had to admit, there were a lot of times when she wished she was still living with them, but honestly she latched onto four just as quickly as she had latched onto them, and she could do pretty much whatever she wanted at Four’s place.

Bec ran back into the room, coming up behind eight and tying a black bandana around her head. “I bought this for myself a while ago, but I got better gear now. Since it fits with your whole look you can have it!” he smiled, satisfied with Eight’s outfit. “Aight, it's aboooout 12:10 right now, wanna head out?” He asked, wrapping an arm around her in comradery. Eight beamed and nodded, feeling more comfortable about the situation now that she was looking fresh and had a friend to go with her.

“Woo hoo! Can't wait to be the third wheel!” Bec exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. Eight had no idea what a third wheel was suppose to mean, but giggled along anyways.

Eight looked at her phone, getting a little anxious at seeing three had never actually replied. She made a small nervous noise, pulling up her messages to four. 'she never texted me back :(... Do you think she's gonna make it? Maybe I should text her again…’ she typed, her nervousness showing in her posture as she typed.

“If she doesn't come its her loss!” Bec assured. “But she probably won't wanna miss out on getting to see a cutie like you,” he said with a smirk, nudging Eight who giggled and covered her face in response. “Now let's get a move on!”

And with that, the duo were out the door and headed to Crusty Sean's food truck.

***

Three had spent thirty minutes just getting herself out of bed to go look at the closet for something to wear. Obviously she was gonna wear her cape, but going full agent in public was a no-go. At least while she was “on break” or whatever. Cap’n would probably be proud of her for getting out of bed, that or berate her for staying in it too long. Either was fine, Three knew it came from wanting her best. Can't blame him for that, really.

By the time she got up it was already fifteen minutes until Eight's suggested Meetup time. She stood around wondering if she should take a shower or not for a few minutes before going to her default “ah, fuck it” attitude towards hygiene. _It's not like people give a shit anyways. The square is full of sweaty ass kids._ Three thought as she dug through her clothes-pile on the floor for something to wear. She kind of just threw on whatever, some basketball jersey- which admittedly clashed with her cape but oops, she doesn't actually care- some flip-flops, and no head gear.

She started leaving her apartment, locking her door and shoving the key in her pants pocket. As she started to leave she realized how completely out of energy she was. _Did I forget to eat yesterday?_ She thought, trying to remember. _Doesn't matter, I'm about to get food anyways right?_

She rushed down to the square, well maybe not _rushed._ More like casually walked while trying not to pass out. It was about 12:45 when she made it to the square. Fifteen minutes late wasn't too bad! She can remember being even more late to things, obviously not work related. She looked toward the food truck, taking note in how many octolings had accumulated in the square over the past few weeks. It honestly made her feel a little uncomfortable, but deep down she was relieved they all made it here safe. _It's not an invasion, Three, you need to relax a little!_  She told herself, her inner monologue sounding slightly like Callie. She shook the thoughts off quickly and spotted what she assumed to be eight. _Oh fuck I've never seen her with casual clothes on. She looks so cute… wait no, shut up three._

She almost got caught up in her unruly train of thought, but then she noticed another inkling sitting next to her, chatting her up. _No… does she already have a boyfriend or something? I thought she would be too scared of inklings after what I did to even try anything like that._ She thought with utter despair. She didn't understand why exactly she was so upset over this, but she was even more distraught when she realized who it was sitting with her. _Fuck!! It's that new recruit! This is horrible. He's so annoying and stupid looking how can she even-_ her thoughts suddenly short circuited when eight made eye contact with her from halfway across the square and started frantically waving. _No don't notice me I almost could've blown this off! I don't wanna be the third wheel to some date thing fuck fuck fuck._ She obviously had no choice but to walk over.

Three put on an awkward smile, waving slightly as she walked over. “So uh. Hi?” Three said stiffly, looking uncomfortable. “Sorry I'm uh. Late.”

Four was visibly holding back a snicker, looking at her funny. “You know you can sit down right?” He asked, like an asshole.

Three was immediately pissed off by this guy. _Cod. Who the hell does he think he is._ “I _do_ know. I just wanted to apologize first.” She clarified, obviously coming up with that justification on the spot. She sat down, having to adjust awkwardly to make sure her cape wasn't going to get bunched up weird.

Four snickered under his breath at her. “Aight aight, okay. You brought your phone right?” Four asked, three feeling kind of insulted that he would think she wouldn't. “I'm assuming you don't know sign language so we'll have to text so eight can talk. If you give me your phone number I can make a group chat for us!” four continued, sounding a lot less assholeish.

Three scowled at him for a long time before sighing. “Fine. Here's my phone just look at the number and put it in.”

Four took the phone eagerly, quickly going to put her number in as a contact. Three grumbled and took the time to look over at Eight, who was staring at her with a small soft smile. Eight's softness was immediately shattered only after a few seconds though, realizing three had seen her and she jumped in her seat, surprised and a little scared. _Do I really look that scary?_ Three thought to herself, frowning a little.

“Alright I got a group chat set up!” Bec exclaimed happily, giving Three's phone back. “I guess I should get us some grub then! Eight already told me what she wanted, what do you want?”

_I want you to go away._ Three thought snappily. “Just fucking… I don't know. Second biggest sandwich thing, and a cola? I guess?”

“Cool! I'll leave you two alone to chat then,” Bec said with a cheeky grin, giving Eight a little wink as he went. Eight just nodded at him before looking back at Three, and then to her phone.

'I was starting to get worried you weren't going to show up :(! I'm really happy you were able to make it, though!’ Eight messaged, looking back up to give Three a nervous smile.

“I uh… thanks,” Three responded awkwardly, tensing up a little as she saw how nervous and uncomfortable Eight seemed. _Why did I even come. I feel like I'm intruding now, just splatting the good vibes with how fucking shitty I am. Cod, I can't even loosen up for a second. Can't make basic conversation. Idiot._

Three brought herself back to reality for a moment when her phone buzzed again, with a message from Eight. 'So have you gone turfing lately? I tried a bit ago but it's just not for me, haha :)! It kinda scares me.’

Three looked at a message for a bit. _At least fear is something you can power through._ She thought somewhat bitterly, before looking back up at Eight, who was still incredibly uncomfortable looking. “I tried,” She started, messing with the end of her cape, “But I got too violent on the battlefield. I think the only wars I can be in now wouldn't be for fun.”

Eight’s posture somehow became even more tensed, she quickly looked back at her phone, as if she was actively trying to avoid eye contact. 'I like your outfit!’ she texted, giving Three conversational whiplash. 'it makes you look tough :)! Not as tough as your agent outfit but the cape helps.’

Three immediately felt her face get a little warmer. “You think my cape is cool?” She asked, sounding shocked and actually a little flattered. The last time Three could even remember being flattered like this was when Marie told her she was good at aiming with a charger two years ago.

'I think it's awesome!’ Eight typed, kicking her legs happily as she avoided eye contact with Three. 'you always look like you've got somewhere important to be.’

Three felt fantastic, blushing at the compliments. She wanted to kick herself for being so easily flustered at this kind of thing. _She has a boyfriend remember?_ Three thought to herself, trying to wipe that dumb small smile off her own face. A small, very gay part of her brain piped in, however. _You don't know for sure though._ Three's eyebrows raised a little, enjoying that thought, hoping it was true with all her hearts, despite her head trying to bash the feelings away. _Even if she isn't why would she even go for you! You don't know if she's gay either, she could very well just be straight and not dating agent four. You tried to kill her! Twice!_

Three's awful train of thought was thankfully cut off by the return of the shithead himself. Three immediately switched to her default scowl, even as he set down the food in front of her. “I love how fast they make stuff here. You feeling good Eight?” He asked, getting a small nod in response from the nervous octoling. “How about you Three? Your food look good or what?”

Three huffed and turned away, only to turn back moments later. “I have a question.” She stated, sounding a lot more pissed off and tired than she was while talking to Eight.

Four was already digging into his food, looking at three. “Uh.. shoot!” He said, some of the fried coating from the galactic shwaffle he was eating escaping his mouth as he talked.

Three looked disgusted with him before sighing anxiously. “Are… Cod. Okay, are you two like… A thing?” She asked tiredly, dreading the response.

Bec spit out his food and Eight choked a little on her seanwich. Bec immediately broke down into a laughing fit, falling off his chair and holding his stomach as he laughed on the ground, crying a little. Meanwhile Eight was having a coughing fit, trying not to die from fried food. Three was extremely confused. _Are they reacting like this because it was obvious they were dating? Do I look like a fucking idiot for even asking?_

Bec recovered after a couple minutes, getting off the floor and trying not to laugh again. “We're not a _‘thing’_ oh my COD,” Bec exclaimed still laughing about the matter. Three was extremely relieved. Eight still had some taste it seemed. _Fuck, if she isn't going out with him then her standards are probably way too high to settle for a fuck-up like me! At least Four has the goofball thing going for him!_ She thought anxiously. “In fact,” Bec continued, “the whole reason Eight wanted me to come was to be her wingman so she could ask _you_ out.”

Three felt like her pulse had stopped due to all of her blood fueling the blush on her face. “Wait. Wh-”

Eight stood up, knocking her chair over with the force of her getting up so quickly. “ **BEC YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT HOLY SHIT!** ” she exclaimed aloud, in perfect octarian.

Bec and Three froze in place, both of them unsure of what to make of this situation. “Oh my cod you can talk,” Bec said, dumbfounded. “I couldn't understand any of it except for my name, but you can talk!” He exclaimed excitedly, throwing his hands up in the air.

Eight's face was hot with a blush, her short moment of having the ability to let any of the words in her head out dissolving like ink. She just stood there, trying to say something, before running off in a panic.

Three just sat in awe for a moment. _Her voice was so pretty, even if it was scary hearing her yell._ She thought quickly, before turning to Bec. “Nice going dumbass.”


	4. We Should Probably Go After Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4 fucked up so now him and 3 have to go find 8. Meanwhile 8 is having the worst time ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so i'm in the process of writing another chapter but I may just make another story thats a follow up to this one? idk if i will though. who knows! i sure don't.  
> Anyways this was a fun chapter to write! There a lot of headcanon shit about octarian life in this one so i hope yall like it!!! thank u all for reading this has been so fun :>

Four looked on as Eight ran off, Turning to Three. “We should probably go after her, right?” He asked, kind of fiddling with his hands.

“Uh! Yeah! Idiot!” Three exclaimed with a scowl, standing up. She stood still for a moment, however, blushing. “But did she really bring you as a wingman or did you just make that up, because I'm betting on the latter.”

Bec almost laughed, but couldn't due to his anxiety. “Yeah she brought me along for that. She's fuckin’ head over heels for you dude! But she's also incredibly scared of you so I needed to be that emotional support, y'know.” He explained, reaching behind to scratch his neck sheepishly.

“Well you sure fucked up in that department.” Three stated grimly, sighing and holding her head in her hands.

“Not my fault she wouldn't just ask you out!” Bec complained, trying to justify his actions.

“Shut the shell up. Eight's out there running away and I bet she barely even knows her way down the street.”

Bec looked a little offended. “She at least knows how to get to the apartment from here! Besides she's got her phone, we can text her while we go after… her…” he trailed off, looking down at the table where Eight had been sitting to find the agent's phone face down on the table. “Hm. Well that's a problem.”

“No shit sherlocke!” Three exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “We gotta go find her, now.”

“I know we do! Shell, I'm probably more freaked out than you are I'm just trying to not have a panic attack!” Four pouted, letting his anxiety get the better of him for a moment. He breathed in slowly, trying to calm himself down. “Okay, I think she probably just went back to the apartment if she's not just around the corner over there,” he explained, pointing in the direction she ran off in.

Bec looked over at the unfinished seanwich Eight had left behind. “... I should probably go ask Sean for a box before we go-”

Three cut him off. “We need to go now! What if she gets mugged or something!”

“I'm not just going to waste food like this! I spent forever earning those food tickets!”

“OUR FRIEND COULD DIE!”

“I know that! You're causing a scene,” Bec said anxiously, the other inklings and octolings in the square looking up from their phones and their conversations to look over at the two agents.

“Fuck, fine. I have a solution,” Three sighed, reaching her hand out to grab the seanwich.

“Wait wait-” Bec gasped, reaching out to stop her. Bec's mind played the situation in slow motion, his hand going for the other’s wrist, but he was too slow, the grumpy and rash inkling had already grabbed the seanwich and shoved it in her mouth. Bec was horrified. “That was Eight's!” He cried out, clutching his hands over his hearts.

“It's not a problem anymore!” Three exclaimed between chomps, destroying any evidence of Eight's meal existing. She proceeded to shove her own seanwich down her face. Even Bec himself couldn't scarf down food that quickly. He would be impressed, if he wasn't trying to keep himself from having a meltdown in the middle of the square.

Three then grabbed Bec's arm with her greasy hands, pulling him violently along as she set off to find Eight. “Holy _shit._ ” Bec panicked, understanding why Eight was so scared of Three. _This girl is fucking insane_ , he thought as he struggled to not fall while being pulled by the other agent.

They ran, following after where Eight had run off to. Three looked like she could rip Four's arm off at any moment, and four was about to start crying from all the stress. But he stayed strong, Eight would probably be even more freaked out if he came to find her while crying. Luckily he had been able to grab Eight's phone before getting dragged off, he wouldn't know what they'd do if they had lost that. They turned a corner, only to find Eight wasn't there like they had hoped.

“Great. She's probably getting mugged in an alley. She could be dead before I even get to actually talk to her,” Three said dramatically and defeated, falling to her knees in anguish.

_God that's gay_ , Four thought to himself, letting himself smile a little before realizing how dumb three sounded. “We haven't even checked the apartment yet, that's probably where she went! I was telling you!”

“You two share an apartment?” Three asked, still sounding defeated and distraught.

“Well, we were kind of forced into it by our respective mom-friends but, yeah. That's why we're friends in the first place,” Four explained, letting himself calm down a little. _Why is she asking about this now anyways? Wasn't she having a heart attack or something a moment ago?_

Three sighed, getting up and rubbing her face. “Where is it then. Let's go check and if she isn't there we can go find her pile of ink 'cause she's probably been splatted by now.”

“She's not dead,”  Bec assured her, giving her a little pat on the back. Three shot him a snarled scowl, scaring him into putting his hands up. “Um, so anyways! My apartment is this way,” he said with a nervous laugh,as he began to walk in the direction of his building, three begrudgingly following behind.

 

***

 

Eight slumped against the door to Bec’s apartment, out of breath. Her thoughts were racing as she put her head in her hands, feeling guilty for acting so rash. She reached down and grabbed for her phone, only to find it wasn't in her pocket. She had a quick moment of panic before feeling suffocating dread at this situation. _Now I can't even say I'm sorry…_ she thought, beating herself up for having the outburst. _I wasn't even going to say I liked her, so it's a good thing Bec said that right? Makes it more efficient. I love streamlined things!_ She held her knees, trying not to cry as she leaned against the door. _It's octarian nature to like things like this to be logical. Maybe none of the octolings wanted to make decisions for themselves, I would agree if it meant I didn't have to feel like this._

Eight hated having thoughts like that. They happened despite her wishes though, much to her dismay. She always thought they were a side-effect of the hypno-glasses; to want to justify parts of octarian society that weren't the best. But in the moment she's never sure. She hated it so much. _Pull yourself together Eight, at least get into the apartment before having a meltdown!_

Eight stood up, wiping the wetness that started forming on her eyes away. She wiggled the doorknob, realizing it was locked. Despite just thinking about how logically minded her kind were, she decided that maybe if she turned it _really hard_ , it would open anyways. She turned the door knob at full force, stumbling backwards as it broke off. She looked dumbfounded, starting at the shiny silver orb in her hand. _Fuck_.

She immediately tried to jam it back onto the door, hoping it would just fall perfectly back into place like nothing had happened. Sadly, it wasn't working. Eight started hyperventilating, trying her hardest not to cry. She slumped against the door again, holding her knees. The stress of the whole afternoon finally got to her, and she felt herself shut off from the world, only to be shoved into an episode, feeling the cold and stale air of the barrack pricking at her skin.

_Eight was standing among her fellow soldiers. It was only a mock battle between the soldiers, to prepare for an inkling invasion where they needed to protect the mini zapfish that powered the rest of the facility. Eight was frigid, but it was natural for her at this point. All of her fellow octolings had taken their places, Eight following suit and hiding in the ink near one of the zapfish. One of her associates had taken place of the inkling. The soldiers usually fought over that roll, mostly because if they messed up while playing the inkling they wouldn't receive any punishment. Inklings were killers, but if you acted like a bumbling idiot at the same time, you were playing the roll right. Eight personally was too quiet to ask to be in the inkling roll, and she didn't want to be seen as a coward for backing out of the actual training._

_She snapped out of her thoughts as she heard the sound of swimming rushing toward her, switching to her octoling form and pulling out the blaster she had been assigned, only to fumble and drop it. Not only had her mistake just guaranteed she would be splatted, but the crack she heard immediately after dropping the weapon implied a fate even worse than that. The other soldier let out a laugh at her expense, making Eight dread the following events even more than she had been. Moments later, she was respawning with her squad leader looking incredibly disappointed._

_“M̶͙̜̈̈́̓i̶̡̧̘̹̅̈*̴͔̲͖̎š̷̢͘͠*̶̤̯̘̖̲͑̆͛͒͑@̷̝̬̬̃̃͂̕k̵̞̎̅̈́̚:̵͈̪̣̀̉͛i̶̠͒̇̅̀̎,” her squad leader began, Eight was confused about why the word felt like static and stung in her mind. “You dropped your weapon, and managed to break it in the process. You know this ineptitude isn't tolerable, you've been training for this situation for, what, two years?” She continued, Eight feeling horrible dread as she nodded. “So you know you'll have to be punished for this, correct?” Eight nodded. Her squad leader sneered at her. “Use your words, M̵͔̟̱̽̓͑̑ì̶̡̦̬̪$̴̡͇̺̓͝-̵͉͛̏a̶̳͓̲̫̱͠|̷͚̞̳̿̉ <̶̨̟͎͔̫͊͑͠i̵̤͖̳͒͠.̷̳̦͙̹͕̒” _

_“Cor- Correct,” Eight mumbled out, her squad leader looking satisfied enough with that._

_“Alright then, no mess hall entry for the next three days. I should give you longer but I'll be adding solitary confinement for a week on top of that.”_

_Eight managed to smile a little. That wasn't too bad, she was expecting something worse honestly. The squad leader immediately scoffed at her._

_“I wasn't finished,” she spat, continuing as Eight's smile dissipated, “Not only that, but we'll be upping your training, and you won't get use of amenities for the next two weeks. You'll be given another test of this same situation in four days, so you better train yourself to near death to prepare. I don't what something like this happening again. You know how strained for repair supplies we are.”_

_Eight nodded solemnly, before quickly beginning to talk. “I-I know. Sorry for being a- a liability.” She stuttered, shivering a little._

_The squad leader nodded with a small, bitter smile. “Good. Go to SC-45 for your solitary confinement, I'll see you in four hours. Get some rest, or not. I don't really care. Oh, and Octavio has a new song he wants playing in the rooms, so enjoy.”_

_Eight sighed and turned, walking out. A few other soldiers had been splatted, but hadn't gotten a talking to, at least not yet. One of them ran over to her with a smirk on their face. “Nice going n̶͍̱̦̟̿̍ñ̸̗̍̑ ̴̢̒̔̎̕͝ī̸̝̂̏s̸̗̗͇͆̾̚à̶̲͗͜͜*̶̻̿*̸̘̌͘k̸̢̹͕͉̿̏:̸̺̖͇̉̈̇;̵̼̾̈́͑̒! Your blew it so hard I think L̴͉͈̤̈́̈̓̍y̶̰̺̩̅̉̎̏n̷̥͎̮͆̿ń̵͉̭̺͂̈́͘͜ȩ̷̻̮̬̓ is gonna go easy on the rest of us! You took a real splatting for the team!” She said with a smile, slapping her back. Eight's head hurt, she hated when people started saying things that sounded like static._

_“I need to go,” Eight explained, trying to run from the friendly octoling, who just sighed and let her go._

_“Aight, I'll try to get ya something to eat next time we got training together! Have fun in the music-box!”Eight shivered. She hated this. She hated this place._

_Suddenly bright beautiful light shimmered in front of her eyes, disorienting her. Of course she actually loved this place, she just hated failing. Nothing was wrong, it was obviously all the inkling’s fault. If they hadn't brutally forced them all to the point of war this wouldn't be happening. That's why she's training, so they can have a peaceful life underground. Eight felt a bit better, but part of her felt wrong. She would just have to get over it, she assumed, keeping a quick pace and keeping her gaze to the ground as she made her way to her solitary confinement room._

 

***

 

Four and Three had finally made it to Four's apartment building, continuing to anxiously bicker with each other as they made it there.

“What if she's not actually there huh? Then we came all this way for nothing and-”

“Oh my cod you've been arguing that she's not gonna be here for the past five minutes, can you shut up! She's here, I'm sure of it,” Bec said matter-o-factly, walking into the building straight up to the elevator.

“Wouldn’t the stairs be faster?” Three asked, clenching her beak with stress.

“Look, I'm a slow walker. An elevator is going to be the fastest way for me, alright?”

“Cod, fine.”

The elevator dinged, Bec walking inside and only pressing one button rather than his usual ten. Three came in after him and he frantict started pressing the button to make the doors close, hoping it would make things faster.

Once the uncomfortable elevator ride was over, Bec sprinted down the all to his room, only to skid to a stop when he saw Eight. He was about to give a snarky 'I told you she was here’ to Three, but he couldn't help but freeze at what Eight was doing. She was sitting against the door, her eyes glazed over slightly, with a slight distraught look on her face. He looked down a bit more, and saw the door knob on the ground.

Three ran over behind him, looking in relief at eight. “Oh thank COD she's okay,” Three exclaimed, sighing happily. Her moment of joy was lost quickly though as she inspected Eight's face. “Wait, what's wrong with her?”

“I think she's like, having an episode or something. It's… probably not good?”

“Well obviously this isn't good!” Three shouted, starting to panic.

“Please calm the fuck down! I don't think stress is what we need in this situation, three,” Bec scolded her, before turning and bending down to slightly shake Eight. “Hey, Eight, can you hear me? Are you okay?” He asked, trying not to freak out anywhere except internally.

Eight blinked, before suddenly bolting away in a panic. She was shaking, reaching for a weapon she didn't have on her. “ **Oh no, oh no I-I forgot my weapon. This is so bad,** ” Eight said in panicked, fast octarian. It was impossible for either of the inklings to understand with their limited knowledge on the language.

Eight blinked again, still shaking as she looked around. She opened her mouth to say something again, but only a confused squeaky noise had come out. She looked at four, her face finally softening. Then her eyes finally started letting out the waves of tears she's been holding back for the past while, collapsing into Bec’s arms like a child and sobbing.

Bec held her tightly, although he was uncomfortable and anxious about everything, he just let her cry while patting her slightly. “It's alright, nothing bad is happening, I'm not mad about the door so don't worry,” he assured her, lying a little about the door knob. His landlord was going to be so mad, but he knew mentioning that would only make things worse.

Four kept a good grip on eight as she sobbed in his arms, beginning to feel less awkward. He looked back at Three, who had been standing there looking like she was about to run away. He nudged his head in a 'get in on this hug’ motion, Three sneering uncomfortably. It took a few long seconds but she bent down and hugged eight from behind, looking extremely awkward. Bec could tell it made Eight feel safer, though, bringing a smile to his face.

As the two inklings hugged their fellow agent, Bec felt that this was an unfortunate start to the group's beautiful friendship. _And, hopefully, the other two agents relationship_ , He thought with a little smirk.


End file.
